Walking along Ome Kaido | Discovering the remains of the Silk Testing Center! | Nakano - Naito Shinjuku

Ome Kaido is one of the roads I would like to conquer someday.

The road of a thousand miles starts with a single step. So, I decided to take the first step.

I decided to go from Ogikubo to Shinjuku without worrying too much about the details.

Nakano-juku

Ogikubo

At Ogikubo station, about 20 years ago, I had transferred between the Marunouchi Line and JR several times. Ogikubo is famous for its ramen, so I took a stroll in front of the station to try some ramen in between transfers.

But it wasn’t like the monja shops in Tsukishima, where all the ramen shops were crowded together in one street. In those days, it was hard to find a diner because of the lack of internet access on cell phones.

Today, it’s purely a walk.

Ogikubo Station South Exit

If you walk east along the railroad tracks from the south exit, you will soon hit the Ome Kaido road.

All you have to do is just keep walking along here.

Amanuma overpass intersection

I heard that Ome Kaido was originally a road to transport lime from Ome to Edo Castle for repairing the castle walls. (It was written on a signboard on the way.)

By the way, there is Chichibu at the end of Ome, where there is a mountain called Mt. That means there must be limestone caves in the area!

I checked and found out that there are quite a few limestone caves in the suburbs of Tokyo, such as Hashidate, Nippara, Otake, and Mitsugo. I’m going to try to visit one or two of them.

Sanshi-no-mori Park (Silk Forest Park)

After passing Kannana-dori Avenue, I found the Samshi-no-mori Park on my right.

I was a little surprised to find silkworm research being conducted in such a city. Silk used to be a major export, so it must have been a very important facility. I wonder if the short plant in front of the building on the left is a mulberry tree.

The main gate of the Silk Forest Park, which remains from the time of the Silk Testing Center

Naito Shinjuku

I arrived at Shinjuku earlier than expected.

From here, you can go under the guard and get to Shinjuku-dori, and the intersection where Isetan is located ((Shinjuku 3-chome intersection) ) is the oiwake (fork) with Koshu-kaido. I didn’t go to the Oi-wake because I pass this place often.

A sign indicating that the area under the guard is the old Ome Kaido.

Walking data

Course: JR Chuo Line Ogikubo Station -> Ome Kaido Road -> JR Yamanote Line Shinjuku Station
Distance: 9.2km
Time: 1h34m